Tuesday, 30 August 2011

Huddersfield's own atmospheric beatmaker and thought-provoking emcee Asavious is finally back after what seems like a long hiatus since his LP with DJ IQ "The A-Loop Theory" (its actually only a few years, and that album still gets plays to this day). Its time for the third-instalment of his much-lauded mixtape-cum-album series Play2Win, and in anticipation for its release Savvy has dropped a cold video for the lead track from "Vol. 3 - Adapt Or Die".

All I'm saying is, you people better fucking adapt, because that chilly West Yorkshire weather will freeze your soul...

Thursday, 25 August 2011

A scattered post here, much akin to the back porcelain wall of your water closet after a particularly lively curry. Rounding up the recent movements in rap that I like and I'm intrigued by.

Kicking us off is Lecs Luther, an emcee who you will never believe is based in Dublin. Mainly because he sounds like MF Doom if he managed to drink a lot of cough syrup, got rid of that sore throat, and then listened to a lot of OFWGKTA. Which is a good thing, because despite there being no mention of the famous potato drought of whatever the fuck year that stereotype was born, he has potential by the bucketload, a great flow and sonics behind him that could catapult him much further than just these UK lands. Here's the vid for his self-titled opening salvo "Luther" from the forthcoming EP "Fish & Chips". I couldnt care less what accent a rapper uses personally, as long as he kills the track, and Luther just left this beat with its entrails stuffed up its own arsehole. A great opener:

Go to http://www.lecsluther.tumblr.com for more info on him and his new EP

Next up we have a UK rapper who has had success in the past with "The Union Jack Album", which I distinctly remember getting quite a buzz on the UK rap blog-scene about three years back. Well, Jack Flash is back again, this time accompanied by a producer named Wizard, and they're packing more heat than a sauna in a suitcase.

Jack Flash passed me the following vid for his track "Tomorrow", featuring rolling acoustic guitars and piano tinkles underneath a cross-over chorus. The track is laid-back and showcases Wizard's production just as much as it does Flash on the mic.

I'm not going to lie though, I stumbled across this track, also from their forthcoming LP, and I absolutely loved it. Its a banger from start to end...exactly the type of track I want to hear from UK artists. And is it just me, or do I hear a tiny bit of UK legend Blade somewhere in that voice? Either way, the album sounds stellar and the guy is from the second place in the world I love besides the north-east, Huddersfield. Big up.

For more info on the album, buy previous Flash releases, and track both Jack Flash and Wizard's movements check out:

An artist that I personally hadn't heard of before it being presented to me is Nasty P, a scottish DJ/Producer who is making noise and incredible beats straight out of Edinburgh. Scotland needs a lot more frontline UK rap artists because there is a lot of culture up there, and Nasty is making the soundbeds for emcees to lay words on.

But its not local emcees who are getting the goods here, Nasty P's reach has extended to such luminaries as Jurassic 5 legend Akil, extremely dope US emcee Oddisee, and the ubiquitous british bread-and-butter hero Skinnyman. Thats some top company, and judging from the beats, he deserves to keep it. His new LP "Choosers Can't Be Beggars' is out now and there is a forthcoming EP billed for September so watch this space.

Check out the track with Akil & Profisee below, and also the solo track 'Signs' which samples reggae classic 'Lots of Sign' by Tenor Saw (also, as you SHOULD know and if you don't you should slap your FACE, used by Klashnekoff as the opening gambit to his classic track 'Zero') and has some cuts & scratches on it that I can only refer to as sick as fuck. Because thats music journalism folks, thats my extended vocabulary. Anyway, its great stuff, enjoy the two vids below:

For more info on Nasty P, and his previous album go to:

http://nastyp.bandcamp.com/album/choosers-cant-be-beggars

Also, he has uploaded a LOT of great stuff to his soundcloud page, both remixes of famous tracks and new exclusives, so check that out too at:

And finally, I'd just like to take a moment to say that I'm immensely proud of Foreign Beggars for their longevity, mainstream success and what they're doing both for UK hip-hop and also for the other UK-created genres they're championing such as dubstep and drum & bass. They're killing it right now and deserve every inch of money and bitches they acquire. In celebration, I know these are one/two months previous, which in online blog terms means ANCIENT, but here's two vids, one for their smash hit 'Bad Man Riddim' and one for their absolutely epic, song-can't-be-beaten, best drop of all time status cracker with Noisia, "Shellshock".